Sunday, November 6, 2011

The Evolution of Theology II

As we look at the evolution of a species, it's adaptation to environment is what prompted its evolution. We see no evidence that the evolving species took a particular role in the process other than just existing or becoming extinct.

But this is what will continue to separate humans from other forms of living beings. We think about evolution.

Descartes immortalized recursive thought with him famed "Je pense donc je suis" or more famously "Cogito ergo sum". I think,therefore I am.

Descartes showed us that the thought within a thought was what made us human. Recursive thought gives us the ability to be in the past and the future. It also gives us the ability to think about the past "us" and the future "us".

The new species of human beings, the evolved version of humanity.

When modern man reflects on the evolution of mankind, he spends most of his time looking into the past. He then looks at his present as the crowning jewel of the Darwinian process. But if we are to embrace the Darwinian model, what's next?

Nietzsche is his work, "Thus spoke Zarathustra," told us of the Ubermensch, the Above-Human, the next human. The evolved human that is the next link in a chain that goes not only into the past, but boldly into the future.

Not withstanding what evil people did with the concept of the Ubermensch, the thought of a being beyond the current state of mankind existed.

The question again is posed, how do we get there? Does a species even have the ability to make itself evolved and even more importantly, does it even want to?

Can a thinking, reasoning species even look at itself objectively enough to know that it even needs to evolve?

Tragically, I believe the answer to that question to be no, modern man sees no reason to evolve. He sees himself at the apex of existence and can think of nothing greater than itself.

Equally as tragic is the fact that this is not the case.

Technology is giving modern man the illusion that he doesn't need to evolve, because technology is doing it for him. Things are easier and faster and the access to information is at the fingertips, but the question still remains, how, or better yet, is this making mankind any more advanced?

Are human beings smarter than they were 100 years ago? How about 1000 years ago? We know again that technology is smarter and faster, but are human beings?

One of the purposes of theology is the spiritual and intellectual growth of mankind. The mind expanding exercise of contemplating the great beyond and a Creator greater than ourselves and us becoming closer to Him and more like Him.

As we discussed in our prior post, we see now why human beings haven't evolved as a species, but our foremost tool to do so hasn't evolved.

When theology doesn't evolve, nor does mankind

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